Monday, July 2, 2012

A Nest of Treasures



Yesterday my daughter and I took on a big project. At least once a year, we clean out the collection of junk she has hoarded in her little pink bedroom. It kind of blows my mind that a 9 year old can stash away so many papers, bouncy balls, stickers and shells in just one year. But she is my daughter.

We spent almost 6 hours moving furniture around, vacuuming, dusting, throwing out old math homework (she thought she might use it for reference in the 5th grade. I convinced her otherwise.)

I'd like to say we sorted through all her collections and culled only the finest pieces. But my heart wouldn't let me do it. As she carefully dusted and rearranged each penguin-shaped eraser, glass unicorn, and piece of beach glass, she smiled the smile of the treasure collector, a smile I know well.

I had to let her keep these treasures. I even dug through the storage room to find some special shelves to better display them.

At the end of the day, our throats were scratchy from the dust we had kicked up. We had to get out and go for a walk just to clear our heads. Later, I tucked her in to sleep. She was almost giddy to slip into her bed in its new place in the room. She looked around dreamily at the reading nook we made with pillows in the corner, the painted parasol from Thailand (a gift from her Aunt Amy) that we hung, canopy-like above her head, and the shining collection of treasures mounted above her desk. Nothing of great value to the rest of the world, but precious delights to a fellow magpie.

8 comments:

  1. Cannot help ... but smile. :)

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  2. so sweet, and you bring back such memories of my own. That special 'newness' feeling of rearranging your room. I still get it:)

    and a little collector of wondrous things.

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  3. Ah what could be better than a nest of pillows to read in and of course your nest collage! xox

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  4. Treasures indeed! Sure does bring back my own memories with my son. I just love your bright and happy bird in nest collage!

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  5. I love the cute little bird with its nest of treasures! Sounds like your daughter is enjoying her "new" bedroom...I'm a little envious of the reading nook :)

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  6. You made memories come back to life... when I was a little girl and my mother finally was exasperated enough that she took it upon herself to clean it. (Wow! you mean there was a floor in that closet??!!) And then there was the time that I redecorated my son's room (third grader) while he was on spring break with his dad. I painted, put up a sports border, and bought new bed linens that coordinated with the whole theme. The look on his face was priceless when he returned home! That third grader is now 29 and I STILL can see it all!

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  7. I had missed this lovely post but I'm so glad I decided to clean up my reader and found it. Your descriptive writing is so good I can almost see the parasol and pieces of beach glass myself.

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